Creating a powerful new input device for computers is hard, but
not as hard as convincing people to ditch the mouse for something entirely new.
Like, say, waving your hands in the air. You can either hand them out on street
corner (bad idea), or bundle them with a computer maker. Leap Motion is doing
the latter.

Imagine a Microsoft
Kinect on steroids and you have a good idea of how
Leap Motion works. The motion controller tracks in-air movement to 1/100th
of a millimeter. But instead of watching you dance, the Leap creates 8 cubic
feet of 3-D space that is recreated on the computer and can be interacted with
via hands, pens or random objects you find lying around your home.

Eager to get people
using its cool new product, Leap Motion announced Thursday that its 3-D motion controller will be
bundled with Asus computers. The controller will ship with Asus all-in-ones
and laptops that will have the Leap Motion app store pre-installed. The bundles
and sold-alone Leap Motion controllers are expected to be available soon.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the Leap Motion on a
Windows 8 machine is that the Live Tiles can be manipulated without having to
touch a computer’s display. CEO and co-founder Michael Buckwald told Wired, “In
terms of the basic Windows 8 control experience, Leap can provide a better
experience than a touchscreen.”

The Leap Motion will ship Windows 8 and OS X ready. Support for
ARM devices including smartphones and tablets will be available in the future.